The U.S. stock market extended its rally Tuesday, with the Dow jumping by triple-digits and the Nasdaq closing above 6,000 for the first time ever, as investors welcomed upbeat earnings and the possibility of corporate tax cuts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.12% rose 232.23 points, or 1.1%, to end at 20,996.12 after five of its components reported quarterly results, with four of them coming in ahead of forecasts.

“Today is one of the busiest days in terms of corporate earnings releases, with 36 companies reporting before and after the market and so far earnings have been strong,” said Michael Antonelli, equity sales trader at Robert W. Baird & Co.

“While earnings have been driving markets higher, tax cuts would drive multiple expansion and so far it looks like the market is very optimistic on tax cuts,” Antonelli said.

Fast-food giant McDonald’s Corp. MCD, +5.57% gained 5.6% after it served up first-quarter earnings that beat expectations. Coca-Cola Co. KO, -0.39% reported a drop in its first-quarter earnings and sales, and shares were off 0.4%.

The broader S&P 500 SPX, +0.61% was up 14.46 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 2,388.61. Materials and energy led the gains. The rally left the Dow 0.6% below its all-time closing high set March 1, while the S&P 500 ended just 0.3% off its record close from the same date.

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.70% rose 41.67 points, or 0.7%, to close at a record 6,025.49, moving past the psychologically important milestone of 6,000 without much resistance. Tuesday’s settlement marked the index’s 24th record close of 2017.

“If there is tax and regulatory reform, monies will flow back into the real economy defined as Main Street versus Wall Street. About two weeks ago, the short interest in the Russell 2000 rose by the greatest amount since 2008. Today the Russell 2000 is at a record,” said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management Inc.

“The Russell 2000 is regarded as Main Street, and as indicated above, will directly benefit from tax and regulatory reform,” he said.

The Russell 2000 RUT, +0.94% rose 13.13 points, or 0.9%, to a record close of 1,411.07. Its previous record close was on February 28 when it finished at 1,386.68.

Still, investors remain worried about a potential government shutdown on Saturday although some of those concerns may have eased after Trump backed off on a demand for border-wall funding, which was seen as an obstacle.

Economic data: U.S. house prices continued to show no signs of slowing, hitting their highest level in nearly three years as demand remained hot. Meanwhile, sales of newly-constructed homes rose to the highest in nearly a year in March as the housing recovery picked up steam.

Consumer confidence in the U.S. dipped slightly in April, but Americans are still far more optimistic than they were before the 2016 election, a survey showed.

Stock movers: A long list of companies are reporting on Tuesday. In addition to the Dow stocks, results from Biogen Inc. BIIB, +3.62% lifted the biotech firm by 3.6%. Rite Aid Corp. RAD, +6.43% jumped 6.4% on an earnings beat.

Read: Three infrastructure stocks to buy—regardless of Trump’s spending plans

Other markets: European stocks SXXP, +0.21% rose modestly after the previous day’s rally, while in Asia ADOW, +0.71% equities climbed across the board.

Investors in Asia kept a close eye on tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea marked the anniversary of the founding of its military with a large live-fire exercise, as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group docked in South Korea as planned, Reuters reported. There had been concerns that North Korea could mark Tuesday’s anniversary with another test of a long-range missile.

The dollar rose against the yen, but fell against the euro EURUSD, +0.1647% and British pound GBPUSD, -0.0701%

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